


Discovery

by ShadowoftheLamp



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, Blood Drinking, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Vampire AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-17
Updated: 2019-07-17
Packaged: 2020-06-30 05:13:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19846312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShadowoftheLamp/pseuds/ShadowoftheLamp
Summary: Ryou slips up, and his friends find out what he is.





	Discovery

**Author's Note:**

> The blood drinking is consentual, if that encourages anyone to keep reading. It could be considered a loose sequel to 'Hunger', my vamp Ryou writing set during duelist kingdom. This is an au where pretty much everything is the same and goes the same as canon- ie duelist kingdom happened exactly as it did, Ryou just had to sneak away to get food.

He didn’t want them to find out like this. Ideally, of course, they never would have found out at all, but this was just… it tied up his stomach. 

More than the hunger did, anyhow. 

“Ryou?” Yugi asked cautiously. Everyone else surrounded him like they were living shields, and Ryou curled up on the couch, stomach growling. Stupid, stupid and weak. 

“I…”

“Ryou, what's going on?” Yugi asked.

Ryou had thought he could handle it. Four days usually wasn’t too much of a problem, and he’d left the Ring in his closet to not be bothered. He’d been running around a lot this week though, and he hadn’t had a very big meal on Sunday, and now it was Thursday and when they’d entered his apartment his mind clouded at so much fresh blood. He wasn’t thinking of anything when he’d pounced on Yugi until Jou managed to pry him off. At least he hadn’t managed to bite him...

He was still starving, but they were waiting for an explanation that he couldn’t give. 

“You… smelled nice.” Ryou mumbled. “You should go.” Even with the tension in the air, his mouth watered- it was easier to pick out their distinct scents without the rest of the school in the way. 

“I’m not going anywhere until you explain what the hell just happened. Why’d you jump Yugi like that?” Jou folded his arms. 

“I’m… hungry.” Ryou hugged his knees. 

“What, Yugi was going to be dinner?” Anzu said skeptically. 

“No! I’d- I’d never hurt any of you. You’re actually nice to me.”

“But you’d hurt other people?” Yugi picked up on the sentence’s subtext. 

“No, I- never enough to really hurt them. Just make them dizzy.” Ryou’s bangs fell over his eyes. He’d long been afraid to cut it in fear it wouldn’t grow back. “I’m- I’m a vampire.” He buried his face in his knees, years of guilt and fear mixing with the secure knowledge that if he saw them looking at him with disgust or pity he’d just up and turn to dust. 

“Oh. That explains a lot.” Yugi said. “You could have said something earlier.”

Ryou’s heart fluttered a little at that- if it even still could do that. He wasn’t sure.  _ Something _ in his chest felt like a frantic baby bird. He looked up at the sound of footsteps, before seeing Yugi smile at him. “You always come to school looking so tired and pale, and then perk up on Mondays and Thursdays. That must be when you eat, right? You always picked at your food at lunch.”

Ryou blinked, nodding slowly. He hadn’t thought anyone would notice. They hadn’t before.

“I- I don’t drain people. I find them distracted and they wander off thinking it was a dream, hopefully. It’s hard, but I manage. You’re… taking this really well.”

“I have a ghost living in my necklace. So do you. This is nothing. I’m surprised he doesn’t make you eat more, considering you seem so tired all the time.”

Ryou smiled, lips pulling back slightly to show Yugi a bit of his fangs. 

“I control feeding. He tried to take control once, but he goes overboard, so now I take the Ring off when I eat, and it’s pretty easy to tell if he tries because I’m less tired when I come back.” Ryou said. “He bugs me for more of course, but I know what I need minimum to get by and he isn’t about to abandon a host that’s mostly immortal and has better reflexes than most people. Better the crappy vampire than a good human.”

“Guess that makes sense.” Jou said. “But how come you can go to school?”

“Lots of sunscreen, and if I time it right I only have to actually be between the train car and the front entrance for about a minute. It’s worth it for not having to be shut up with my own thoughts 24/7.”

Honda snapped his fingers. “So that’s why you always smelled like sunscreen!”

“That’s why you never wanted to go to Kaibaland with us either, right?” Anzu ventured, and Ryou nodded. 

“Too much sun burns up my energy supply, and gets me sore and achy. It’s like reverse solar power.” His stomach groaned again, and he squeezed his knees against it, trying to quiet it down. 

“Geez, that sounded awful.” Jou said. “When did you last… drink?”

“Sunday.” Ryou said quietly. “I thought I could manage a few hours and go out tonight, but…”

“You really haven’t eaten in four days?” Yugi asked, and Ryou nodded with tight lips. He’d been distracted by how shockingly well they were taking it, but they were starting to smell delicious again. “Do you… want just a little?” Yugi cautiously held out a wrist, pulling off his bracelet. 

“Yugi, what are you  _ doing? _ ” Anzu asked. 

“Look at him- he looks sick, like he’s going to pass out. He said he doesn’t kill people.”

“I don’t. But I’m not going to pass out. Right now it’s more nerves than anything.” Ryou mumbled, fighting back a wince at the warm pulse of blood being offered up. His nose twitched and his fangs practically ached, stomach pleading with him to take it but mind refusing to risk hurting his friend. 

“I trust you,” Yugi said, and that hurt worst of all. 

“You shouldn’t. I’ve had accidents, when I go too long without eating. I could really hurt you.”

“Then they’ll get you off me.” Yugi said. “It looks like you’re beating yourself up over this. I know I can’t think straight when I’m hungry either, and if you’re always on the edge of starving yourself…”

“I get the point.” Ryou took a deep breath, teeth grazing the wrist before his fangs dug in. Yugi winced, but Ryou barely noticed. Yugi’s blood was just as good as it had smelled, and after the fangs punctured a hole, he drank from it for a good thirty seconds. When he was done, he licked at it until it was starting to scab over, slight healing doing its work. 

Ryou wasn’t sure why he had the ability to close up small wounds on others. Probably so new vampires wouldn’t go around turning every meal they had. Whatever the case, it was useful to him as someone who didn’t want his food- and his friend- to bleed out. 

He pulled back to see Yugi looking a bit pale but still smiling at him, and the others looking somewhat grossed out but trying to hide it. Considering what they’d just seen, he couldn’t blame them.

He set a hand on his stomach- it didn’t feel hollow anymore. It wasn’t a full meal, but Yugi was short and he wasn’t taking any chances. It was worlds better than nothing. 

“Thank you. I- I know this is a lot, but I promise, I won’t need to do that again-“

“You can if you need to. It has to be hard, living like that.” Yugi said. “And it felt weird, but it didn’t really hurt.”

Ryou’s eyes widened. “You didn’t mind?”

“It was tingly, but you looked so much more relaxed after you pulled back,” Yugi said. 

“If Yugi said it was okay, you could try me too if you need it.” Anzu chipped in. 

“I’m in,” Jou said 

“What the hell, why not? If it’s awful, I just won’t do it again.” Honda added. 

Ryou swallowed. “I- I-“ He didn’t have the words, so he just pulled them into a hug. They were so much warmer than him, it felt like a living blanket.

Jou broke the silence first. “Sheesh, I don’t know how we couldn’t tell you were something weird before, I think you might have cracked a rib there.”

At that, Ryou laughed genuinely and easily for the first time in a long time. 

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by a talk with justapalspal. Comments always super appreciated!


End file.
